Hurricane Ike - the aftermath

You've already seen a few of the photos, here's some of our damage. Of course, it pales in the comparison to the devastation our fellow Texans in Galveston witnessed. The loss of life from refusal to evacuate will be tremendous, I fear. It is only an inability to correctly assess our own mortality that keeps us from making good decisions like leaving a storm damaged area.

Me personally? I have enough food to last for at least a week and a half. I'll be tired of peanut butter and crackers and will probably be willing to kill for a steak, but the experience will deepen my understanding of humanity and his depths. The knowledge I'll gain from this will far outweigh the agony I may suffer. This is the logic I used.

I knew there existed the possibility of damage to my home and accepted it. It turns out there was damage and I've accepted it. While not fun, I can't change it. It would have happened whether I was here or further away.

Since I have stayed, I have family and friends close to me to assist and assist me. As I'm typing this, I'm quite comfortable in a small living room with several couches, fans, an air cooler, a generator, satellite cable on an LCD TV, and DSL internet connection. You see, we also prepared.

I am grateful for the friends I have to share this hurricane fallout with. A best friend of mine for 12 years and the little sister of another of my best friends (of whom I'm going to be best man in his wedding), Cooley & Christen are offering additional support.

I hope you think not of us as lunatics as much as curiosities of the human psyche. What makes a man choose the paths he does which can prove to be a more formidable challenge than taking the easier path with less troubles? I believe these are the things that forge a man. These are the things that bind humanity. These are the horrors that define us.

Cooley has tried to prepare me for the next few weeks as rations run short, food runs out, water becomes scarce, gasoline becomes a hot commodity.... I've heard reports of gas selling at close to $5 a gallon elsewhere in the country. Is that true?

Is anyone listening?

VIDEO: Cooley shows Saturday morning Ike "aftermath" 9:00am

Kevin climbs a tree

Yesterday, we drove by my house with a chainsaw and ill intentions. There is a tree on my house, and I intend on removing it. Unfortunately, my lineage does not include lumberjacks, merely carpenters. I can put it together, but I'm not going to try and move 2 tons of oak tree. Just not a good idea.

I did, however believe myself capable of removing a few simple limbs from my carport. My nickname used to be squirrel. I KNOW how to climb trees.... I just had on the wrong shoes!

VIDEO:Kevin attempts to dislodge a branch.

Hurricane Ike watch - In the eye

Here is a video from yesterday after we lost power. Cooley takes his Chevy 4x4 out into the storm again.

VIDEO: Cooley takes the truck out in the Hurricane to see whats happening.

Hurricane Ike carport story

It was a bit of a wild night. Around 3 o'clock, I had to go to bed, but Cooley stayed up and did a few more videos. That Panasonic SDR-S10 is just about perfect for these storm shoots. Its water resistant, just not very good at night.

VIDEO: Kevin tells what just happened to the porch cover

Ike Makes Landfall

I'm finally getting a chance to update the video you missed out on in since yesterday. Enjoy!

Here's video of Cooley braving the storm.

We got wireless!!

Cooley hooked the wireless router to the generator, so now we're back in business!

We were out for about 8 hours. Hope you didn't miss us too much.

After I'm done uploading everything, we're going to take a tour of the town and see what is open and bring you some photos and video of what other people are experiencing. I don't see this getting better anytime soon. If you're gone, stay that way. Its not going to be pretty and I'm not just talking about my face :)

AT&T cell phone service continued working throughout the storm. Verizon was intermittent but is now back up. 3G service for iPhones is currently down also. Sprint was down and may remain so. Same for T-mobile. No new word on if they're working again.

We still have water, but have been asked to conserve it. My bathtub and Cooley's have been filled to help flush the toilet if necessary. Please know that running water should be out soon for Beaumont.

I've also heard rumor that officials may be trying to force out people by shutting down essential services and forbidding companies to open for business. That could prove quite detrimental to the economy in this area.

kevin

Working on the new updates. We are putting together new video now all we have to do is find a highspeed connection.